July 5th, 2017:

Oxfordshire Under 25s lost narrowly for the second successive game, this time at the hands of Sussex on Sunday. Only two shots separated the teams at the end but by virtue of Sussex claiming two out of three rinks they won by 8 points to 2 effectively ending Oxon’s hopes of the title.

Right up until the final ends the game could have gone either way but finally proved an impossible task despite the heroics of captain Shane Cooper who’s rink of Darren Wakeman, Ben Dickson and Orren Bennett dropped a six and a one to go 7-16 down on the eleventh end but who then picked up a remarkable 21 shots without reply to beat Adam Fairhall 28-16 for Oxon’s only points.

Dan Swanson, skipping for the first time also played mature, telling bowls, well supported by Bradley Squires, Rob Parkes and Harvey Alder, to stay in contention all game but eventually lost out to Jack Fairhall 14-18.

Oxon’s final rink of Jon Dadson, Joe Glenn, Jamie Wilkinson and Sam Watts worked hard all game against Callum Phillimore but a five dropped on the nineteenth end meant that they could not win. They went down 15-25 making the overall score 57-59.

Oxon recruited it’s newest member on Sunday. Twelve year old Giles Francis from City & County played in a friendly game with the reserves and now becomes part of the Under 25s Squad for the future. He was introduced by Zoe Pratley as part of the manager’s ‘Introduce a friend’ initiative. If anyone else knows of a youngster who would like to try bowls then please get in touch with Steve Gilkes on 07868 435052.

The team is in action against Kent at Kidlington BC this coming Sunday (9th): U25s v Kent